Zoos are based on the menageries of old and harken back to a time when Europeans used to pillage other continents and steal their treasures. Zookeepers today must recognise that their business model is dying and stop pretending that zoos make meaningful contributions to conservation.

Many facilities operate almost continuously, giving dolphins little respite from streams of tourists. Their diets may be erratic because many facilities generate additional revenue by selling fish to tourists in order to feed dolphins. Assertive dolphins can grow obese, and less aggressive animals may go hungry.

Countless brave birds served and died with our Allied forces. They crossed battle lines and helped influence key battle decisions by delivering vital messages. These intelligent, gentle birds were the first recipients of the Dickin Medal - animals' Victoria Cross - for contributing to the rescue of thousands of human aviators.

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has upheld a ruling that allows the European Union to ban seal fur imports on moral grounds. Canada fought desperately to have the ban repealed, but the WTO affirmed that nations have the right to reject seal products which they find morally reprehensible.

Earth Day has to be about more than just turning off lights. We need to reflect seriously on the impact that our individual choices are having on the planet and its inhabitants and start to make better ones.

The Grand National is - by design, no less - an accident waiting to happen. Forty horses compete for space on the 4.5mile course fraught with obstacles, jumps and dangerous terrain. Last year, only 17 horses - fewer than half - managed to reach the finishing post. And while the race organisers were quick to highlight an unusual absence of fatalities, they failed to mention that two horses were killed in the run-up to the event earlier that week. More than three dozen horses who might otherwise have been grazing and running in the fields have been killed at Aintree in the last 50 years.

The lack of genetic diversity caused by inbreeding greatly increases the likelihood that recessive genes, which cause debilitating afflictions, will be passed along to puppies. As a result, roughly one in four purebred dogs suffers from serious congenital defects, such as hypothyroidism, epilepsy, cataracts, allergies, heart disease and hip dysplasia - a disease that can lead to crippling, lameness and painful arthritis.

The idea that fur is springing into fashion again is absurd, even though that's the line the fur trade has tried to sell to reporters for more than a decade. You may see more fur on the catwalk, but that's because fur is so cheap that furriers have resorted to paying designers to use it. Its presence on the catwalk does not reflect what people are wearing on the high street.

Harrods' Pet Kingdom will shut its doors for the last time at the end of the month, ending nearly 100 years of shameful animal exploitation, and here at PETA, we couldn't be happier to hear it. In its time, Harrods has flogged every species of animal for the right price

If the label says, "angora" or "wool" or "leather", please remember that the garment began as a living being - and leave it on the shelf. The only way to ensure that a piece of clothing (or anything else for that matter) is cruelty-free is to shop animal-free.

The Princess Royal's argument, which she put forward in a speech to the charity World Horse Welfare, is that people would look after their horses more carefully if they were planning to turn them into steaks and burgers later on. However, in our experience, any animal used for food is much more likely to be treated with disrespect than with respect. Given the regular exposés of mistreated pigs and chickens raised for food, it's absurd to think people would take better care of horses if there were a market for their meat.

In the interests of progressive science, compassion and Iran's reputation, we've contacted ISA once again asking that it stop shooting animals into space and urging it to put a stop to these useless, misguided missions.

Besides the risk of looking like Liberace, there's another reason why men should avoid fur at all costs: cruelty to animals is a real turnoff and isn't going to score you any points with the ladies - or anyone else, for that matter. In fact, according to a recent opinion poll, 95 per cent of British people say that they wouldn't dream of wearing real fur. That's because they know that for the animals trapped in filthy cages on fur farms, who are never allowed to feel the grass beneath their feet or dive into a cool stream...

Now more than ever, as animal testing is being scrutinised and debated in the public forum, animal advocates must continue to speak for those whose voices have been ignored for too long. We can win the fight against animal testing and eliminate the need to mark World Day for Animals in Laboratories ever again.

Illusions are worth shattering when they involve cruelty. It comes as a shock to many to learn that hundreds of thousands of pigeons are tossed into the air even when storms are predicted along their flight paths, and the fact that many will perish is well known to the racers.

Animals have feelings and emotions, and they suffer from pain, disabilities and diseases just as humans do. But unlike my father, who could clearly communicate his wishes through a system of blinking his eyes, animals can't tell us (at least not in human language) that they don't feel well, are in terrible pain or even want to die. They depend on us to notice when something is wrong and to be brave enough to make the heartbreaking-but-humane decision to end their suffering when the time comes.